The Greek Left and the Terror of the State

Neni Panourgia

A Note on Transliteration

I have looked at many attempts to create a systematic approach to transliteration, and the one that I find most convincing and agreeable (with minor adjustments) is the one proposed by Robert Fitzgerald in his translation of the Odyssey, because it retains the complexities of Greek orthography and shows the affinities between Greek and Romance-based words. I have kept most of the Greek diphthongs and two-lettered vowels, double consonants, and long and short vowels. Accent marks indicate what they connote: the accent stress on a word. I do not use accent marks on two-lettered vowels (such as ei or ai), as these are single utterances. I use accent marks on all proper names, and I follow these rules of transliteration, except for names that have an already-established spelling in European languages (hence, for instance, Oedipus, not Oidipous, Aegean, not Aegaean). Toward the end of writing the book, a computer meltdown forced me to change programs. A glitch in the new program did not allow for the addition of certain diacritics. You will notice this inconsistency, and I apologize for any difficulties it might present in deciphering the correct Greek spelling, grammar, and pronunciation.